


Letters

by unjax



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, F/M, Mystery, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-23 20:56:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14941253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unjax/pseuds/unjax
Summary: Ruby wakes up in a forest with nothing but foggy memories and a letter on a scroll. As she begins to remember the world, she tries to piece together what happened to her, how the world has changed, and most importantly, who Weiss Schnee is and what she used to mean to Ruby; with nothing to guide her but letters from a missing heiress.





	1. Lazarus

Groggy eyes snapped open to the sight of arching branches sweeping softly in the overhead breeze. The dark silhouettes of the trees accented the contrasting shine of the stars and shadows of the night. White light from a shattered moon splashed across the sparse foliage of the mostly dead, skeletal branches, making them glimmer. Soft grass tickled the back of her neck, comforting her, but an insistent prodding from a broken twig encouraged her to roll over, away from the ground.

A moan escaped her lips as stiff muscles moved. She caught sight of her arm, covered to the wrist by a dark sleeve. She followed the sleeve up to see she was wearing a dress that ended in a flared skirt, all darker than the shadows of the midnight. The bottom side of the skirt, however, was made of a sharp red, catching the moon's rays and standing out in the otherwise monotone, shadowed ground. Something ruffled behind her in the wind, and she turned her head to see a cloak behind her, made of the same colour, twirling softly in the toying breeze.

There was something about that colour, that cloak. She was supposed to remember. Something that was important, but the memories were slow to come. She reached for them, but could not dredge them from the recesses of her mind.

She was also wearing tights, fading from red to black, and they were cut off above her ankle by a sturdy pair of combat boots. She immediately liked the boots. They seemed practical, sturdy, and grounded. They were the opposite of how she felt: senseless, faint, frail, and liable to blow away with the breeze.

She stood, slowly, looking down at her hands. She felt that they should be remembered, but they looked unfamiliar. Well, not unfamiliar, but unnatural. Something in the back of her mind told her that those weren't supposed to be there. Everything about her just seemed... _Off_.

The trees, the view, the moon, the cliff edge on one side, even the grass, it all seemed familiar, but distant. There was a memory, something about black fur and red eyes, but she couldn't pull it all the way up. None of it was tangible to her. It was recognized, but almost forgotten, nothing but hints and scraps of the former experiences remaining.

Some electronic device made a beeping sound to her side, and she looked down to see a small scroll with a little green light blinking at her. A moment later, it beeped again, trying to get her to pay attention.

She bent over, and picked up the scroll. Upon opening it, the green light went out. The screen was dark for a moment, and when she tapped it gently, a message popped up.

_Ruby,_

_I know this is probably more than a little disorienting for you. I guess it_ has _been four years. I don't know what you remember, or if you remember anything - none of this is very exact science - but I hope you know who I am. I'm not sure I could bear losing all the moments we shared... I hope you remember._

_This isn't your scroll; it's mine. I won't be needing it anymore though, so I suppose you can use it. If you're reading this, it will be the first of many letters you'll receive, and_ Dust _do I hope you're reading this. What's happened is long and complicated, and maybe in time I'll be able to tell you, but sitting here, writing this, I can't bring myself to think about it. I'm scared, Ruby. I'm so, so scared._

_That doesn't matter though. You're about fifteen kilometers from the city. You're on the edge of an overhang. If you walk in the exact opposite direction of the edge, you'll get to the city. I suppose that you could get there in a few minutes, but if you walk, it will take some time. When you get there, go to 29-11, apartment J. Maybe they can tell you what I can't bring myself to._

_When you see the others, if they ask about me, don't tell them about this message. They'll worry and fret, but everything is alright. Everything is going to be okay now. I don't want them to come looking for me or try to track me down. This will all be a lot simpler if everyone continues to live the way they were before. I know they'll have a lot of questions, and you won't have answers, but don't try to find them. I suppose I'll tell you in time, but until then, just do your best to live a normal life. Or what passes for normal for you._

_There's a lot I want to tell you, but everything I have to say will be said soon enough. I do wish I could be there to see you again, but circumstances have made that impossible._

_This letter is going to be short; I need to do this now. Preparations have been made though. You'll receive more of these, and maybe by the end of it all, you can understand why I did what I did. Why I did what I had to do. It's selfish, I know, but I think that maybe, even if you can't forgive me, you can understand me. More importantly though, I hope that you can do what I couldn't. There are things that I couldn't overcome, things that I couldn't beat. You've always been strong though, you've always been better. I think you might just have a chance at succeeding where I failed._

_It is probably little compared to what others feel, but with what little warmth and love my heart can summon, welcome back Ruby Rose, and I wish you the best in your life._

_-Weiss_

_Ruby_... Her name was Ruby. That sounded right, familiar. Ruby Rose. Other names drifted into her mind, though in no particular order. Random names that made no sense, but a few caught and stuck.

Yang, that one was sunny and bright. That one felt important, like someone she had known the name for a long was a faunus, Blake, though she couldn't remember how she knew her. And then a few others, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, Ozpin, Taiyang... They all meant something to her, though Ruby was having issues putting her finger on what it was exactly.

And then there was Weiss.

Weiss Schnee.

That name was different. It definitely meant something to her, but there was more to it than that. Thinking about it though, Ruby became even more confused. No specific memories came to her, but rather snippets and images. A condescending voice that somehow warmed her heart; a flicker of brilliant white hair, a warm smile on usually cold lips, smooth ivory skin...

But one question, one sensation, overpowered the rest. It made no sense, and Ruby had no idea why she thought it. She didn't know what kind of relationship she had had with Weiss, but the question burned at her, caused a sense of betrayal, made her somewhat sad.

_Why isn't she here with me?_

Ruby stared at the screen for a moment, trying to make sense of the words. The entire world was jumbled, and the text on the scroll just added to the confusion. Weiss was right about at least one thing; Ruby was very disoriented.

She checked the address again, committed it to memory, then turned away from the cliff and began walking.

* * *

The apartment complex wasn't particularly fancy, but the large building had spacious glass windows and a well-kept ground. It didn't speak of excessive wealth, but it was the kind of place that people who were well-off would live. Ruby looked at the address, verified it was 29-11, then entered the building. The main floor was wide open with slim, carved pillars shooting up towards the ceiling. The architecture was pleasant, and Ruby saw a small plaque posted outside a glass door that opened into a spiral staircase as she walked up to it. Apartment J was on the third floor, so Ruby opened the glass door and began to make her way up the staircase.

When she exited onto the third floor, she was met with a narrow corridor that ended at a darkly stained oak door. As she approached, murmuring followed by the occasional laugh or giggle escaped from the walls.

She came up to the door and knocked; there was an immediate groan in response.

"It's your turn Jaune." The voice was soft, lilting, and kind. It pulled at memories in Ruby's mind, but frustratingly, they eluded her.

"Come on! We're watching a movie, besides, it's probably just some salesman."

"Go on," The kind voice urged.

"Aren't you at least going to pause it?"

"Hurry back, and you won't miss a thing."

More grumbling in a lower voice, and she heard footsteps approaching the door. As the steps got closer, the mumbling got a little louder until it finally grew into speech. "Look, this movie's _really_ good," The door began to open and Ruby saw a well built man with blonde hair and deep blue eyes. "So I'd really like to-" The man broke off as he saw her, the colour drained from his face. His mouth hung open in shock, his eyes bugged out, and he looked like he had seen a ghost.

He was familiar, and one of the nebulous names that had been floating around her head came into sharp definition, the memories focusing: he was the first friend she had made at Beacon. She had spent a lot of time talking with him, discussing their teams... _RWBY and JNPR_. His hair was swept over his brow as usual, and he was wearing a hoodie as he always had, though white now rather than black. Despite these similarities, he seemed more like a man. His face seemed stronger; he was older and physically matured, yet she could still see the friend she had made outside of Beacon on the first day of school.

After she had exploded in front of Weiss.

Ruby let out a little giggle as a warm feeling spread through her chest, a sort a comfort. She knew he was a good guy, and she was among friends. She was feeling confused and disjointed, but she knew if anyone could help her it would be Jaune. He was always helping someone, the kind of guy who would put others ahead of himself - though she remembered getting mad at him for it a few times. It was funny how the memories started to come back right away, and it made Ruby's fingers tingle.

"Jaune?" She asked, working the name around her mouth and trying to get used to it.

"Who is it?" Came the soft voice from behind him.

Jaune was still in shock. Ruby didn't know why. He was looking at her and studying her intensely, his ocean blue eyes flickering over her, and his brow knit together. "This isn't possible." He murmured under his breath. His eyes looked past her through to the corridor, but drifted back to her eventually. " _How_?" He asked; the word tumbled from his mouth in an exhale of a breathe he had been holding. Ruby didn't think that it had been intentional.

"Jaune?" The soft voice called again, and the hard clacking of heels on hardwood echoed through the hallway. Jaune didn't respond.

Scarlet was the first thing Ruby saw as Pyrrha walked into the hallway, ' _immaculate as ever.'_ The thought sprung to mind, unprompted. She was wearing a warm, amber T-shirt and a green pleated skirt, and although they were casual garments, she looked like she was ready to attend a ball which, for some reason, seemed quite fitting to Ruby. She had not changed as much as Jaune though. She was perhaps a little more relaxed, her shoulders not pulled so stressfully into a permanent, militant pose.

It was the setting that first tipped Ruby off that things might be different than she remembered. They were living in an apartment, not at school. Ruby didn't remember anyone living outside of Beacon, and finding two of her friends here confused her. She hadn't known what she had been expecting, but it definitely wasn't her friends, especially not friends who had changed from what she could recall.

And they had been watching a movie. Together. Since when were Jaune and Pyrrha watching movies together? In an apartment, apparently theirs.

It was at that time that Ruby noticed the rings.

Ruby started to get a headache.

As the woman caught sight of Ruby, her eyes shot open and a harsh gasp echoed through the hallway. She fell against the wall of the entryway, her eyes boring into Ruby, her face plastered with shock. Pyrrha seemed to have stopped breathing.

"What is it?" Ruby asked, her focus returning to Jaune. It felt like someone was pressing a needle through her forehead. "What's wrong?"

"Ruby..." The name fell through his lips, almost like it was involuntary. "How are you here?"

Ruby opened her mouth to tell him about the scroll, but she frowned. Weiss had asked her not to tell them, and although Ruby didn't really know why, she wanted to trust her... Friend? She was still struggling to remember what her relationship with the other woman was. A shot of pain echoed through her head.

"I was told I could find you here." She said instead. It wasn't a lie, however, she still felt guilty saying it.

"No, how are you _here_? Breathing, walking, talking? What- _How_?"

"Most living people breath, Jaune." She said, grabbing her elbow with her hand nervously. She didn't feel comfortable anymore. Suddenly everything felt very unfamiliar. There was a moment of silence, the air practically crackling with tension, and Ruby suddenly found the sleek, hardwood floor to be very interesting.

"Ruby," Jaune finally spoke, warily and low. She met his gaze, not missing the hard set of his jaw and deep sadness in his eyes.

" _You haven't been living for the past three years."_

* * *

 


	2. Late Night Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby gets caught up

Ruby knocked her knees together nervously as she sipped from the tea. It was pleasantly warm, not too hot. The peppermint aroma wafted up from it, filling her nose with the scent of potent leaves, calming her headache a little. It wasn't heavily steeped, still mostly clear, but flavoured just enough. The room she was sitting in was quite large, containing a flat screen tv built into the wall, a few speakers, a fireplace keeping it warm in the corner, and a puffy black leather couch upon which Ruby sat. The walls were a dark amber, giving the room a warm tone that was accented by the lightly flickering fire. She should have felt at ease in such a nice place.

But low, intense, harsh whispers, muffled by the walls, floated to Ruby's ears, shattering the illusion of calm. In the next room over, Jaune and Pyrrha were having a discussion, though it seemed like it was quickly devolving into an argument. Ruby longed for that fleeting moment of comfort she had felt when she had seen Jaune, but she had an uneasy feeling that it wouldn't return anytime soon.

She took another sip of the tea.

As the cup came back to rest between her thighs, Ruby stopped the nervous knocking for a moment so as to not cause the water to ripple. Still feeling fidgety, she bit her lip instead. Her image in the lightly tinted liquid came into focus as the water stilled, and Ruby was able to study her face for the first time since waking up in the forest. The image was washed out, but clear enough to see in.

Her hair was short, with a long bang sweeping over her brow. It was jet black, but dyed near the ends with crimson. Her face was youthful, more than Pyrrha's and Jaune's, though it was still quite defined, edged from years of hard exercise and training.. Ruby focused on her eyes though, reflecting on the sheen of the surface tension. They were a brilliant, icy blue, so pale they almost glowed in the room's dim light. She narrowed her eyes and looked more closely, but it wasn't a trick of the light. They were definitely a whitish shade of blue. That didn't seem right to Ruby. They didn't look like hers.

Not to mention it totally ruined her whole color scheme.

She sighed and sipped the tea again, hearing the heavy breath echo through the apartment. Her presence was causing a lot of unrest, more than she was okay with. Coming here seemed like a mistake. Ruby stood and walked towards the doorway of the room, leaning next to the door frame as she came up next to the kitchen.

Jaune had his head bowed and his arms out wide, palms resting on the two parallel countertops of the kitchen with his back to her. Behind him, Ruby could see Pyrrha with her arms hugging her body, and an expression somewhere between shock and pain on her face.

"Pyrrha, we can't tell her until we know what's going on." He urged in a low voice.

"Jaune, she should be the first to know. We-" Pyrrha broke off as she saw Ruby in the doorway over Jaune's shoulder. Registering the pause, Jaune followed her gaze to see Ruby.

"Um," Ruby started, then gave a little bit of a nervous laugh. "I'm sorry if I was, y'know, interrupting something. If you guys want I can just go and-"

"No!" Pyrrha interrupted, her eyebrows shooting up. "Ruby, it's fine!"

"We were just discussing how we should go about letting people know about this." Jaune said, though from the snippet of conversation Ruby had caught, it had been about one person in particular.

"Well," Ruby started. She didn't know how many people she wanted to see right away. She was still sorting out the jumbled memories of Jaune and Pyrrha, and she didn't know how many other people she could handle re-meeting without being overwhelmed. "Maybe we could take it slow, y'know?"

Pyrrha looked at her, and Ruby caught something close to sorrow in her eyes. Maybe sympathy, even.

"Yeah," Jaune answered with a light smile on his face. "Maybe we can do that."

"Are you tired?" Pyrrha spoke up.

"Not really." Ruby answered with a shrug. "Apparently I've been resting for four years so, you know, kind of looking forward to staying awake." Jaune let out a low chuckle.

"Is there anything we can do for you?" Pyrrha asked, ever the caring one.

"If it's alright, there are a few things I'm a little confused about. Think you could help fill me in?"

"Of course," Jaune said with a nod, then turned to the third occupant of the kitchen. "Pyrrha, do you need to rest?"

"I'll be fine." She replied with a smile, then let out a little laugh. "I suppose the tournament is going to have to change its name now though."

"Wait, do you have a match tomorrow?" Ruby cut in. "You don't have to stay up Pyrrha, we can do this later."

"She's competing in the ' _Ruby Rose Memorial Tournament'_ , funded by the Schnee Dust Company." Ruby spluttered at the name, and then more at the sponsor. It had to have been Weiss, but… Why? She then let out a giggle.

"What do you think would happen if I showed up tomorrow?" She started to laugh lightly.

"Maybe you should not do that." Jaune said with a tight smile.

"Really Pyrrha, you should sleep though."

"No, it's fine!" Pyrrha said with a warm smile on her face. "There's little I'd enjoy more than talking to you, Ruby." There was a genuine desire in her voice, and it warmed Ruby's heart.

"Thanks." Ruby hoped that Pyrrha knew how much it meant to her.

"Here, let's go sit in the other room." Jaune suggested, and Ruby followed him back into the adjacent room. She was sat down on the couch again, and Jaune and Pyrrha took a seat on the ottoman just across from her. Ruby noticed how close they were sitting. She looked at the rings on their fingers again, suspicious.

"So..." Ruby began, but Jaune and Pyrrha offered nothing. "You guys, um, are wearing rings." Pyrrha's face lit up with a smile, Jaune laughed.

"We are," He answered.

"And, well, uh, people normally wear rings when they really like each other."

"I've always liked Pyrrha."

"Yeah, but like, _like_ like, each other."

"That's true."

"And after like-liking each other for a while, they, you know, have a ceremony and stuff."

"That they do."

"And there they get rings."

"I'm pretty sure that's called marriage."

"And you guys are wearing rings."

"We are,"

"So, does that mean... You... Um..."

"Yes, last summer." Pyrrha said, smiling softly, hitting Jaune lightly for his antics.

Elation soared through Ruby for her two friends. Before she was entirely sure what she was doing, she had tackled the two of them to the ground in a tight hug.

"Yay!" She couldn't help but squeal, the joy bubbling up inside her, and beneath Ruby, Jaune and Pyrrha laughed a little, their faces red. Ruby let them up a moment later, her own face flushing with embarrassment. "That's great!" She exclaimed, her voice an octave higher than normal.

"Thank you!" Pyrrha half laughed as she stood up and brushed herself off. Jaune got to his feet as well, and a few moments later they were all back in their original seats, the only difference was that Ruby was bouncing her legs up and down of the balls of her feet in excitement.

Then a thought struck her, and her legs stilled.

"I missed your wedding." She deadpanned, her voice low. For years, she had been trying to convince Jaune to ask Pyrrha out, or at least she thought she remembered that. Jaune had been one of her best friends at Beacon, maybe _the_ best friend she had, and she had missed what was probably the happiest day of his life. And Pyrrha's too. She never got to see the champion dressed in all white, dressed up and made beautiful for the biggest day she would ever have - even more important than the most important tournament finals.

She had missed their wedding. She had missed them smiling, and laughing, and dancing. Hell, she had probably missed their first kiss.

Silence hung heavily in the air for a moment, and across from her the couple shifted uncomfortably. Knowing she was causing distress, Ruby forced herself to perk up again.

"Tell me about it a bit." Ruby wanted to at least hear a bit about it.

So for the next half hour, Ruby listened to stories from their wedding. Jaune raved about how beautiful Pyrrha was, but not without adding that she was always that beautiful to him. Pyrrha smiled softly beside him, and the look of pure contentment on her face made Ruby grin foolishly for her friend. Ren had been the best man, and Nora, Blake, Yang and Weiss had been the bridesmaids. There had been no maid of honour, something quite unique. It had been a small celebration at Pyrrha's request, and that made sense to Ruby. Pyrrha was used to large events where she was the centre of attention, so a small, modest wedding with only close friends seemed suiting. Some of the Beacon staff had been there, both their families, team CFVY had even shown up. A few others that Ruby didn't know. As they talked about them, a few faint memories came back to Ruby. Not about many of them, but she started to remember a few things.

"Yang... She's my sister, right?" Ruby asked with a creased eyebrow, her headache starting to come back. Across from her, Jaune and Pyrrha shared a glance, a frown crossing Pyrrha's face for the first time.

"Half-sister," Jaune corrected. "But you guys were closer than most siblings I've ever met."

"And Blake?" Ruby asked. A picture had formed in her mind of a girl dressed in black and white reading a book, tucked into the corner of a bunk.

"She's Yang's partner. She's also a faunus, crazy skilled with a whip. Likes books."

"Yeah..." Ruby mused, a few thoughts returning to her. She didn't know how long it would take for her to remember everything, or if she ever would, but she was starting to re-form the memories of the people she knew. "Sorry, I interrupted."

"Eh, it's fine," Jaune said with a shrug of his shoulders, then launched back into the recounting.

Ruby laughed as they told her how Ren had cut himself a piece of the cake at the urging of Yang (who convinced him it was okay - no big deal) before the bride had had a chance to. That probably would have been a problem, but apparently Pyrrha had just laughed it off. After that, everyone had just helped themselves to the wedding cake. There had been an open bar, and apparently Yang somehow managed to get Blake, of all people, to enjoy it a bit too much. It had been the first time any of them had seen her inebriated.

"What is drunk Blake like?" Ruby had to ask. She laughed at the thought of it, but could not imagine how the faunus would have acted. She was still struggling to remember anything past the quiet exterior of the faunus.

"She spoke in rhyming couplets for a few hours, which kind of astonished everyone. Yang brought a laser pointer, and had a lot of fun with that. I'm pretty sure Yang was in a lot of trouble from Blake the next morning."

"I don't think that Blake remembered it." Pyrrha offered with a chuckle.

There was a sort of hollow happiness that Ruby felt as she heard the story. Her friends had enjoyed themselves a lot on that night, obviously, but there was a pang of sadness that she felt at having missed all of it. She wished she could have been there to see it. And that was just one night, how much more had she missed?

A pit began to open in her stomach, making her feel queasy and empty, and Ruby noticed she had unconsciously started hugging herself.

"What about Weiss?" Ruby asked, the name bringing back that flood of confusion that had come to be associated with the name. She hadn't heard much about the woman who had left her the note on the scroll other than she had attended the wedding, and she was hoping that maybe hearing more about her might help her remember.

"She..." Jaune trailed off, trying to find words. Fortunately, his wife came to his rescue.

"She took it pretty hard when you died. Your sister too. Yang went missing for a few days after, but when she came back, she was okay. Sad, of course, but at peace with what had happened. Weiss though, she threw herself into her work. She never really dealt with what had happened. Ever since, she's been... Different." Pyrrha's voice was light, like her words might break something fragile.

"She got quiet." Jaune added. "We only saw her on certain occasions. Weddings, special functions, reunions, but for the most part, we only heard about her on the news. She started to become a big name at her father's company."

"Oh," For some reason, that worried Ruby. She was quiet, thinking about everything that she had just heard. She wanted to know more, but she also wanted some time to think over what she was beginning to remember, as well as what had happened while she was gone.

"You should probably get some rest." Pyrrha suggested, almost like she could read Ruby's mind.. "Maybe things will be clearer in the morning." Ruby just nodded, then gave Pyrrha a forced smile. The couple stood across from her.

"We don't have a guest room, but you can sleep on the couch. Dust knows your sister crashes there enough." Jaune said with a hint of mirth.

"Thanks," Ruby responded, but couldn't muster up the strength to make her voice jump excitedly.

A few minutes passed with a little bit of bustling around as Pyrrha and Jaune prepared for bed. The former brought Ruby a few blankets and a soft feather-filled pillow, and gave her a brief hug.

"I'm glad you're here, Ruby." Pyrrha said with a kind, genuine smile. "It's so good to see you again."

Ruby readied her makeshift bed. Despite the couch being divided into a few sections, it made for quite a comfortable surface. The pillow fit against her head and neck perfectly, and Ruby could tell she wouldn't wake up with a kink in her neck. It was easily the most comfortable thing Ruby had slept on in the past three years. She giggled at herself for that one. Then immediately felt the pit come back.

Thoughts swirled around her mind though, pestering her, each one begging for attention. There was so much that Ruby had to process. First off, she was alive, and she shouldn't be. She had a sister, and a team, a partner and friends she could hardly remember. Even with the cake story, Ruby had difficulty picturing Ren. The best she could manage was green clothes and pink eyes.

Then there was the letter she had received when she woke up. Weiss had asked her not to look for answers to the questions she was presented with, but how could she not? She didn't even know what Weiss was to her. A partner, sure, but were they friends? Ruby didn't feel like that word meant enough, yet she couldn't grasp the memories that would allow her to define how she felt. Between coming back to life, the time gap, even the fact that Jaune had somehow managed to get Pyrrha to marry him, the strangest part of Ruby's life right now was the question pertaining to the heiress. It was the same question that Ruby had felt out in the forest, and with it came confusion and more questions.

Why wasn't she there with Ruby?

A deep sigh. There was no real point thinking about it. Maybe she could look for answers in the morning, but for now, there was little point. She was comfortable, and she felt her eyelids begin to grow heavy. She hadn't realized it, but she was really, really tired, and even that incessant thought faded as the fatigue took control. She felt like she had run a couple marathons back-to-back, then fought a few Nevermores just for kicks.

The lights in the kitchen adjacent to the room flickered off, and she saw a silhouette appear in the doorway.

"You alright?" Jaune whispered in the dark.

"Yeah," She started, then had to reconsider. "I just have one question."

"What is it?" He asked, stepping fully into the room.

"Weiss and I," She struggled to find words for a moment, trying to decide how to phrase her question. "Do you know what we were?"

"Well, you two were partners, and being close friends goes along with that." He said.

"Nothing more than that?"

"Not that I ever knew of." Jaune mused. "Why?"

"I don't know." Ruby answered, and she didn't. It just felt like there was more to it than friendship. Some sort of bond that went deeper. Whatever it was seemed to be the source of all the confusion she felt whenever that name was brought up. Having answered her question, Jaune stepped back towards the door, but stopped halfway through its threshold.

"Night, Ruby," He whispered over his shoulder. "And it's _really_ good to have you back." Even though she couldn't see his face, she knew he was smiling.

That warm, comfortable feeling returned, and Ruby held onto it as she fell asleep. It helped to keep the empty pit threatening to consume her at bay.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two! Rewriting pieces of it and... well the Ren eating cake bit sort of tore me apart. Fixed the timeline thing I managed to screw up!
> 
> Hope you're enjoying,
> 
> See y'all soon

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all
> 
> Decided to start taking advantage of this site, as I've been told it's "a better ff.net." 
> 
> I'm excited to start working here, and so I'm hoping to be able to release weekly chapters of this fic as I build up to writing the ending.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!


End file.
